l//^^^ 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



47 



definite relation to the amount of work done ; and so 

 it may well be that when the nerve-centre is in ac- 

 tion — when pains and pleasures are felt, when thoughts 

 are rife — this is possible only by reason of a disappear- 



■y of til "? ^^^^ ^^ metamorphosis of a certain amount of potential 



^* energy which had previously been locked up in some of 



of 



force 



^^^'^'i the organic constituents of the body. We 



3 we b 



ic form of 



ever, prove that it is so, because we have not yet been 

 able to show that there is evolved, during brain action, 

 1^ of the act an amount of heat, or other mode of physical energy, 

 e subtle anj( less than there would have been had not the Sensations 

 timate the vail been felt and the Thoughts thought; and because we 



have no means of ascertaining what amount of sensa- 

 tion or of thought corresponds to a unit of heat 



the muscle--: because it is even impossible for us to gauge the strength 



e nutrition (< 

 we separate' 



sciousness i\ 



of a sensation, or the force of a thought— we are cut 



t value of' °^ ^^°"^ ^^^ means of comparison. 



alone, andi 



Knowing, however, what we now do concerning the 

 evolution of heat in the animal body and concerning 



pvervthing* , ^ w^n^^iiixiig 



. It. ^^^ contractility of muscle : knowing that respiration 



mov be tP • • .1 . 



inci; IS in the mam. a r»rOrpc;c: nf ^>V^rIaf^,-^r. . flTof ^irr^ef^^r. 



I as 



truly tbe 



l( 



is, in the main, a process of oxidation ; that digestion 

 is an essentially chemical process ; it can no longer be 



of certain said— as of old it was said— that the manifestations of 



. direct resul' Life 



MxM. 



icn a 



Becla' 



in organic beings take place independently of 



irs 



W 



niu5 

 hicli 



n 







ark5 as 

 Mr. SP' 



thef 

 .peer's 



to 



physico-chemical laws, and are regulated solely by oc- 

 * cult influences. This error has been fast disappearing 

 since Lavoisier sought to demonstrate the real nature 

 of the phenomena taking place in living things, and 

 since he first taught that many of them were essentially 



t 

 \ 



